The Chief says he was told he’d have to wait months, even a year to get more ammo.

“I was really surprised, let’s just put it that way,” said Chief Walt Wobig of the difficulty getting ammunition.

Woberg says that when he asked suppliers for the 1,000 rounds of ammo his officers needed for training, he was told he’d have to wait months.

“I go, ‘Do you have 40–caliber qualification rounds?’ And they go, ‘Well, no. It’s going to take six to eight months [to get them],’” said Wobig of a conversation with a manufacturer.

Retailers say the nationwide shortage is due in part to people stockpiling ammunition in response to recently proposed gun legislation.

“It was getting a little short last fall, so they were already behind, but there definitely is panic,” said Superior Shooters Supply owner, Pat Kukull of the shortage, “We’ve [the store] been here for 35 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

With the Proctor Police Department in need of ammunition, the Chief sent out a call asking for help. Who answered? The very people his officers are sworn to protect.

A citizen and a Proctor police officer loaned their personal ammunition to the Department, a total of 1,500 rounds. The Chief says others were willing to help too.

“I had several other calls from other citizens that said, ‘Hey, if you need more ammunition we have plenty,’” said Woberg, “I know that if I need ammunition I have citizens out there that will gladly come forward.”

While the media claims that the shortage is due in part to individuals stockpiling larger quantities, it completely fails to mention the stockpiling of multiple billions of rounds by the government itself.

Were these DHS stockpiles being acquired for the protection of Americans and the homeland, wouldn’t it make sense that local police departments around the country should be able to turn to the agency instead of local citizens for help?

Once again, the massive stockpiling by the federal government is suspect. Does the government expect some sort of widespread event that will require this ammunition be brought into service, perhaps like the economic collapse and civil unrest scenarios they’ve been war-gaming? Or, are they, as Senator Jim Inhofe recently suggested, hoarding ammunition intentionally as a way to attack the Second Amendment by reducing availability on the free market?